I had Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson’s Titan: The Fighting Fantasy World when I was a kid. If I may Grognardia for a minute, I have to say that I didn’t think much of it when I was a kid. For some reason I perceived it as a pretentious challenger to D&D’s dominance. Now I see that it’s a loving D&D pastiche, with orcs, elves, and D&D off-brand monsters like Tua-suo and Dvorgar. It’s not pretentious at all. It’s enthusiastic, and very charming. I’ve already stolen a few ideas for my D&D game.
One of the most charming things about the book is the art. Like the content of the book, most of it looks like it would be at home in an 80s TSR product. One of my favorites is this painting of the world’s fantasy metropolis, the City of Thieves:
Perhaps more useful in a game is this sideways map of a wizard’s tower. It’s presented as the home of a friendly wizard, and it isn’t immediately useful in that context. But as a dungeon it would be tops. It reminds me of Jeff Rients’s vertical dungeons. It looks like it would be great fun keying each one of these rooms – though it is a little linear, I’ll admit. And because it’s so detailed, you could actually simulate a character making a search check by having the player find an item – possibly folding or covering parts of the map so that only one floor could be searched at once.
It would also be a kick-ass tower to give to one of the PCs as their home base.
Finally, here’s a nice Russ Nicholson critter for your collection:
Why is that one guy pouring from his cup into another cup? Don’t goblins care about GERMS?
the top pic is actually Khare – the Cityport of Traps, not Port Blacksand – the City of Thieves
We are not a commercial rock band, just a home recording low distribution band. I’d like to use the drawing of titanruss with the goblin pouring some liquid. Can I get permission to do that?
Thanks
I totally get what you mean about initially dismissing Titan as pretentious—I had a similar experience with it back then. It’s funny how your perspective changes as you get older and realize it was never trying to compete with D&D so much as celebrate what made those fantasy worlds fun in the first place. Those off-brand monsters like the Tua-suo and Dvorgar actually added charm rather than feeling like cheap knockoffs, and I appreciate the article pointing that out. It’s a loving homage, not a challenger, and that makes it way more endearing than I gave it credit for as a kid.
I totally relate to this! I had Titan as a kid too and remember feeling like it was trying too hard to compete with D&D rather than just doing its own thing. It’s funny how perspective changes—reading your take on it as a “loving pastiche” rather than a pretentious challenger really reframes how I remember flipping through it. The D&D off-brand monsters you mention actually feel charming now that I think about it, rather than cheap knockoffs like I thought back then.
I really appreciated your perspective on Titan here. I had a similar experience—I remember thinking it was trying too hard to compete with D&D when I was younger, but revisiting it now, you’re absolutely right that it’s more of a loving homage than a pretentious rival. The D&D pastiche elements like those off-brand monsters you mentioned actually feel charming rather than derivative when you look at it that way. It’s interesting how our reading of things changes once we get past that defensive gatekeeping mindset about what “real” fantasy worlds should be.
I had a similar experience with Titan back in the day—I remember thinking it was trying too hard to compete with D&D rather than just doing its own thing. Your point about it being a loving pastiche rather than a pretentious challenger really resonates with me now. It’s funny how perspective changes when you revisit these old books as an adult and realize they were just enthusiastic tributes to the fantasy worlds we loved, not some bitter rival product.
I totally get what you mean about having that initial impression. I remember feeling similarly dismissive about Fighting Fantasy stuff when I first encountered it, thinking it was trying too hard to compete with D&D rather than just doing its own thing. It’s interesting how revisiting these things as an adult completely changes your perspective—you can actually appreciate the craftsmanship and enthusiasm that went into creating that world instead of just seeing it as derivative. Titan really does have its own charm once you’re not viewing it through that lens of childhood competition.
I totally get what you mean about misreading Titan as a kid! I had the same experience – it felt like it was trying too hard to compete with D&D rather than just celebrating what made fantasy gaming fun. Your point about recognizing it as a loving pastiche rather than pretentious is spot on; looking back now, you can really see how much affection Livingstone and Jackson poured into those world-building details and creatures. It’s funny how perspective changes when you revisit something years later and realize you were too defensive about your original favorite to appreciate what was actually pretty clever about the alternative.
I totally get what you mean about initially dismissing Titan as pretentious. I had the same reaction back then—it felt like it was trying too hard to compete with D&D rather than just doing its own thing. But you’re right that revisiting it now, you can really see the affection in how Livingstone and Jackson built that world. Those off-brand monsters like the Tua-suo and Dvorgar are actually pretty creative, and the whole thing reads more like a love letter to fantasy gaming than some kind of challenger. It’s funny how perspective changes when you come back to something years later.
I totally get what you mean about initially dismissing Titan as pretentious. I had the same reaction back then—it felt like it was trying too hard to compete with D&D rather than just doing its own thing. But you’re right that revisiting it now, you can really see the affection in how Livingstone and Jackson built that world. Those off-brand monsters like the Tua-suo and Dvorgar are actually pretty creative, and the whole thing reads more like a love letter to fantasy gaming than some kind of challenger. It’s funny how perspective changes when you come back to something years later.
I totally get what you mean about initially dismissing Titan as pretentious. I had the same reaction back then—it felt like it was trying too hard to compete with D&D rather than just doing its own thing. But you’re right that revisiting it now, you can really see the affection in how Livingstone and Jackson built that world. Those off-brand monsters like the Tua-suo and Dvorgar are actually pretty creative, and the whole thing reads more like a love letter to fantasy gaming than some kind of challenger. It’s funny how perspective changes when you come back to something years later.
I totally get what you mean about initially dismissing Titan as pretentious. I had the same reaction back then—it felt like it was trying too hard to compete with D&D rather than just doing its own thing. But you’re right that revisiting it now, you can really see the affection in how Livingstone and Jackson built that world. Those off-brand monsters like the Tua-suo and Dvorgar are actually pretty creative, and the whole thing reads more like a love letter to fantasy gaming than some kind of challenger. It’s funny how perspective changes when you come back to something years later.
I totally get what you mean about initially dismissing Titan as pretentious. I had the same reaction back then—it felt like it was trying too hard to compete with D&D rather than just doing its own thing. But you’re right that revisiting it now, you can really see the affection in how Livingstone and Jackson built that world. Those off-brand monsters like the Tua-suo and Dvorgar are actually pretty creative, and the whole thing reads more like a love letter to fantasy gaming than some kind of challenger. It’s funny how perspective changes when you come back to something years later.
I totally get what you mean about the initial perception—there’s something about how Titan was positioned that made it feel like it was trying too hard to dethrone D&D rather than just do its own thing. But you’re right that looking back at it now, the Livingstone and Jackson approach was more about celebrating that fantasy world they’d built with genuine enthusiasm. Those off-brand monsters like the Tua-suo actually had way more personality than just being D&D knockoffs. It’s funny how context changes everything about how we read these things.
I really appreciate you sharing this perspective shift—it’s interesting how Titan gets unfairly dismissed as trying to dethrone D&D when it’s really just a enthusiastic homage to the system. Your point about the off-brand monsters like Tua-suo and Dvorgar is spot on; they feel like loving riffs on classic fantasy tropes rather than attempts to reinvent the wheel. It’s funny how kid-you saw pretension where adult-you can now see genuine passion for the source material.
I really appreciate you sharing this perspective shift—it’s interesting how Titan gets unfairly dismissed as trying to dethrone D&D when it’s really just a enthusiastic homage to the system. Your point about the off-brand monsters like Tua-suo and Dvorgar is spot on; they feel like loving riffs on classic fantasy tropes rather than attempts to reinvent the wheel. It’s funny how our kid brains sometimes misread passion as pretension, but revisiting it as an adult clearly shows Livingstone and Jackson’s genuine affection for the genre.
I really appreciate you sharing this perspective shift—it’s interesting how Titan gets unfairly dismissed as trying to dethrone D&D when it’s really just a enthusiastic homage to the system. Your point about the off-brand monsters like Tua-suo and Dvorgar is spot on; they feel like loving riffs on classic fantasy tropes rather than attempts to reinvent the wheel. It’s funny how our kid brains sometimes misread passion as pretension, but revisiting it as an adult clearly shows Livingstone and Jackson’s genuine affection for the genre.
I really appreciate you sharing this perspective shift! It’s interesting how Titan gets unfairly dismissed as trying to dethrone D&D when it’s really just a enthusiastic homage to the system. The fact that you initially saw it as pretentious but now recognize it as a loving pastiche says a lot about how we interpret things differently as we mature—what seemed like competition as a kid is clearly just creative passion for the source material. Those off-brand monsters like Tua-suo and Dvorgar are charming details that show the designers really understood what made D&D fun.